Tungsten is a candidate material for the divertor of fusion reactors,
where it will be subject to a high flux of particles coming from the
fusion plasma as well as a significant heat load. Under helium plasma
exposure in fusion-reactor-like conditions, a nanostructured morphology
is known to form on the tungsten surface in certain temperature and
incident energy ranges, although the formation mechanism is not fully
established. A recent experimental study (Yajima et al 2013 Plasma Sci.
Technol. 15 282-6) using neon or argon exposure did not produce similar
nanostructure. This article presents molecular dynamics simulations of
neon implantation in tungsten aimed at investigating the surface
evolution and elucidating the role of noble gas mass in fuzz formation.
In contrast to helium, neon impacts can sputter both tungsten and
previously implanted neon atoms. The shorter range of neon ions, along
with sputtering, limit the formation of large bubbles and likely
prevents nanostructure formation.